WoW C3.S1.07- The Hunt for N8

Intro

After the explosion at the end of WoW C2.S3.06 An Explosive Grand Opening, the party members were all a bit shaken up. Even though they had gotten comfortable with killing (if they weren't already before) nothing prepared them for the mass carnage they saw after the explosion. Many party members had trouble getting the images of charred and dismembered corpses out of your head. Some had a fretful nights sleep, especially those who had experienced traumatic events in their past.

Pyper's Dream

1. Pyper Runecut had a dream where the crystal shard she had looted from Grinda Garloth's workshop appeared to her, floating in dark mist, spinning slowly.
   
   
2. She drew closer and she could see reflections in the crystal, images of the burning sands of her homeland, Zakhara, far to the southeast from Faerun.
   
   
3. She saw her family’s home, a grand castle in a lush oasis city. Then, a tower exploded, smoke rising into the sky. She saw people running for their lives, and she saw casualties, including her father dragged from the rubble. Then she saw her mother and guards dragging away a younger Pyper. It was all a painful memory.
   
   
4. Then there is flickering firelight inside the crystal that seems to glow stronger as a voice speaks. A deep, soothing female voice says: "Sweet child, I owe you a debt. Your spark has given me refuge. You were a glowing ember of chaos, calling out to me in the darkness. Your growing flame has rekindled my spirit. Many will will fear you power, even yourself. Let me guide you, show you how to channel your gift. If you embrace your inferno, your potential will be limitless”
   
   
5. The dream ends...

Fearonuh's Dream

1. Fearonuh also had a dream, so vivid it is almost like a memory. A Great Golden Eagle screeched, soaring above her in the sky. All around her, a desolate battlefield, with corpses of orcs everywhere.
2. She looked down in a muddy puddle and saw a reflection of a much younger version of herself. She turned and saw a dark keep on the mountainside, eerily abandoned.
3. She entered the keep, and was greeted only by the stench of death. She ventured into a grand chamber and sees a throne sitting empty, surrounding by more orc corpses. The Eagle flew through a broken stained glass window and landed, perched on the high back of the throne
4. It turned to look at her and she felt its gaze. She saw that is was a very old eagle and that it was missing an eye. 
5. The dream ends...

Bartholomew's Dream

1. Bartholomew Glockenspiel had a dream where he was attending class at wizarding school in Candlekeep. However, he soon realized he forgot to put on pants, and was only wearing underwear. Everyone began to laugh at his expense. How embarrassing!

Vonna Tails Urstul

1. Vonna has spoken with Urstul Floxin after the explosion, and felt that he wasn't being entirely truthful with her. He had lied that he and the Zhents had merely been there to help celebrate the grand opening of Lost and Found Tavern 
2. Vonna decided to follow Urstul when he slipped out. However he eventually noticed her and they had a brief standoff before she convinced him she was just watching his back.
3. He offered to bring her into his inner circle, but challenged her with one more assignment as a test of loyalty. He said he'd send word in the morning.
4. Vonna returned home to the tavern and tried to go to sleep, but Bruce was missing.

Bruce's Suspicious Behavior

1. Vonna heard some rustling down in the kitchen and she crept downstairs to find Bruce eating in the kitchen.
2. There was a bit of a tense exchange, where Bruce was very cagey when she asked where he had been. Vonna also observed some strange things. Bruce was eating an entire Turkey, and crunching through the bones with his teeth like an animal would. She also thought he looked high. His eyes were wide, yet sunken. His body looked like it had added muscle. All very odd.
3. Vonna said she was worried about his amulet and Bruce became very defensive. He said it was "HIS AMULET!" She decided not to push it and went back upstairs. She had trouble sleeping knowing Bruce had to walk by her room to get to his.

The Next Morning- Grinda's Interrogation

1. Early the next morning Vonna was awoken by Slumbeare barking as a cart driven by two Zhents pulls up. They waved at her and they brought a large crate down to the basement.
   
   
2. Vonna read a note on the crate from Urstul Floxin that told her Grinda Garloth was tied up inside, and that she was to interrogate her, by any means necessary.
   
   
3. After Grinda kicked her in the face and nearly escaped using come crafty magic, Vonna interrogated her as TMM05 watched, using Zone of Truth.
   
   
4. Grinda provided the following verified truthful information:
   • She doesn’t know anything about the explosion, and confirms she is not allied with the Thieves Guild, they were just a customer of hers
   • The Thieves Guild found N8 heavily damaged, and asked her to fix him up and reprogram him. She was not yet done with repairs when he booted up and took off. his memory core is heavily damaged so it is unclear what he will do
   • She is concerned about N8 being on the fritz, she’s worried he will do something and it will be pinned on her
   • Explained more about the fire elemental construct core, that the core is typically a trapped water elemental, but she experimented with swapping in a Fire Elemental. They are more powerful, but also more of a risk if they escape. She said N8's core is cracked and at risk of releasing a the elemental
   • She has had no idea how N8 or TMM05 would have become sentient
   • Confirmed the Heart Jar amulet Bruce has heals and boosts the abilities of the wearer. It was helping keep her cancer at bay.  However, she confirmed that it is cursed, it was making her charmed by N'arl Xibrindas, of the Thieves Guild
   • Asked party to grab a bag of holding from her sunken crab near her workshop- doesn't’ know who else to trust these days. She said they owe her.
     
     
5. Vonna helped release Grinda, promised she’ll keep her safe, even from the Zhents
   
   
6. When Vonna reported back to Urstul, he said to kill Grinda by midnight, tie up this loose end
   
   
7. Vonna brought the whole party down to the basement and shared all of this information with everyone, including Grinda. They also confirmed a few things with Grinda

1. While in the basement, the group decided to confront Bruce about his amulet and try to take it from him. He was again very defensive and became agitated, claiming they were just jealous and trying to take his amulet. He also claimed he had infiltrated the Thieve's Guild.
   
   
2. Pyper Runecut used an illusion to convince Bruce she was holding the amulet. After a brief struggle where Fearonuh nearly snatched the real amulet, Bruce broke free and ran off

Questioning by Force Grey

1. The party came up from the basement and heard a knocking at the door. They were greeted by a burley man named Meloon Wardragon and two other mages in grey robes. Meloon informed them they they were members of Unknown, a special branch of the Government of Waterdeep that responds to magical threats
   
   
2. Meloon told them that he wanted to ask them some questions about the night of the explosion, and subjected them to a Zone of Truth whereby he would know if they were lying
   
   
3. Metatronia took the lead with responding to questions, and was effective at deflecting and not answering. Meloon grew annoyed and turned to Vonna who he hoped would be more forthright as a lawful paladin. Renaer Neverember revealed himself and gave the party an ultimatum to come clean, that he needed to know what was really going on.
   
   
4. Questioning eventually turned to whether the group had involvement with the Zhentarim, Waterdeep Chapter.Vonna was forced to confirm that they had joined the Zhents, but was also able to confirm that they only joined after rescuing Renaer Neverember from their warehouse. She also confirmed that they had not been ordered to befriend Renaer Neverember, that was a coincidence. The party told Meloon and Renaer that they had joined up with the Zhents because they had a common goal: taking down the The Thieves Guild. They also said they did not condone all of the recent activities of the Zhents.
   
   
5. Meloon asked them who they suspected was behind the explosion and they confirmed that they thought it was a nimblewright under control of the Thieves Guild. Meloon asked if they could share any information about suspected whereabouts, and they truthfully said that they didn't know except that they had sewer hideouts. Also that they knew of an upcoming delivery of weapons the Thieves Guild was expecting from Grinda Garloth to be made to the Terasse House of Healing
   
   
6. Meloon and the party agreed to have a follow-up meeting to coordinate on how to observe and/or attack during the arms delivery. However the party never followed up with Meloon and he was apparently captured while doing surveillance of the House of Healing. The party ran into him in Xanathers lair in WoW C3.S4.10 Fight Night! (Part 1) and freed him from a prison cell.

Grabbing Grinda's Bag

1. With Bruce still missing, the party traveled south to the Dock Ward and to the location of Grinda's workshop in Mistshore. Much to their dismay they came upon the smoldering remains of her workshop. 
   
   
2. Fearonuh saw a golden eagle fly overhead and land on the roofline of the burned building. She fed it some crab and cast Speak with Animals to converse with it. 
   
   
3. The eagle said its name was EAGALE' and that it had seen some hairy men burn down the building that night. It also said it had seen something shiny in the water and dove in and brought out the broken construct arm that had belonged to N8 Unit. Fearonuh promised to feed the eagle and allow it to roost on their tavern if it kept a lookout for the hairy men and the metal men. The eagle agreed.
   
   
4. The group next looked for the sunken crab. After a failed dive by Pyper Runecut, Metatronia dove deep and retrieved the bag using all of her breath. Her darkvision came in handy 20 feet down.
   

Tracking N8

1. The group used the strong scent of drugs on N8's broken arm in an attempt to track him. Ruffles was able to follow it to a run-down building where they encountered a drug dealer. He confirmed that N8 had recently stolen all of his drugs and money. He also said that N8 smelled like he had been "swimming in whiskey"
   
   
2. The party used the scent of whiskey and tracked to a distillery in the South Ward

The Distillery

1. Darkness was just falling over the city as the party approached the Dragon's Breath Whiskey distillery. The huge stone building looked almost like a castle with massive 10ft wide doors. 
   
   
2. They knocked and were greeted by a guard who told them they were closed to customers at the moment. The party successfully convinced him that they were tavern owners interested in buying whiskey for their establishment and they wanted to have a look at the operation. He agreed to let one person inside.
   
   
3. The group chose to have TMM05 go inside, and tried to hide Metatronia inside of it, but the guard caught her.
   
   
4. TMM05 proceeded and received an abbreviated tour. Apparently this was the largest whiskey distillery in the world, and ran production 24 hours a day. There were 20 massive fermenters and 8 four-stage stills that filled the building.
   
   
5. TMM05 went over and inquired about a door to the west side of the building and unlatched the lock. At that moment the door burst open and ten Bugbear and a heavily tattooed dwarf came barging through. ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!
   
   
6. The Bugbear immediately began battering TMM05 while the rest of the party had to smashed their way through the door to get into the building
   
   
7. The party had nearly taken out all 10 Bugbear when a group of 10 Zhentarim Thugs, Ziraj the Hunter, and Urstul Floxin smashed their way through a door on the far side of the building. Urstul saw Vonna and said "What the fuck are you doing here Vonna?" He clearly still didn't trust her. Some of the Thugs pointed their crossbows at Vonna.
   
   
8. Then, N8 Unit emerged from where he had been hiding inside a boiling vat of Whiskey (a still). He ran over the top of the stills and tried to swing out through an open door to escape.
   
   
9. To be continued...